Is It Time? Offering Your Products and Services Online

When you are relatively new in practice, your primary question is probably, “How can I get more clients?”

However, as your psychotherapy private practice grows and matures, this question often shifts from how to get more counseling clients, to “How do I offer products and services that don’t require me to see more clients?” This is the concept of “leverage”: you’re ready to grow, but you’ve reached a point where just adding more clients to your practice isn’t the right solution for you. Here’s how to know you’ve reached that level:

You are “maxed out” with the number of clients you’re seeing, and don’t want to add more.

You have a predictable, reliable system in place to market your private practice.

You have an existing email list of clients and potential clients interested in you and your services.

You’ve developed a specialized area of expertise in your private practice.

As you’re reading this list, many of you are probably saying, “Yes”, I’m there. I’m ready for the next step.

What’s standing in the way? Chances are for most of you, it’s wondering whether or not anyone will actually but what you have to offer.

If that’s where you are, please take a moment to look at several of these actual things that people are selling online right now. (Yes, these are actual products available for sale.)

For those nights when you just need a little snuggle…

The only thing that would make this better is if they were bacon-scented, too…

I have no words for this one.

No reason to eat healthy, exercise, and take care of yourself.

Because don’t we all want a cat image of ourselves?

So, you get the point, right? If THESE products can sell online, I’m CONVINCED that what you have to offer will sell online as well. Don’t let yourself get hung up on whether or not anyone is interested. I’m telling you, if they are interested in bacon band-aids, they are interested in what you have to offer. (Unless what you have to offer is a boyfriend pillow, that niche is already taken.)

So if you’re toying with the idea of leveraging your expertise beyond private practice to offer products and services online, here are my top tips to get started:

Release the question of whether anyone will purchase from you. Replace that instead with, “What do I have of tremendous value that I can share with the world?” Because you do have something of tremendous value. It’s just that up to this point, you’ve only been sharing with a select few in one-to-one therapy. But there are many, many more people out there that could benefit from your help.

Make sure you establish yourself as a trusted advisor in one area of specialty. You’ve heard my say how important this is in private practice, and it’s infinitely MORE important when you are selling products online.

Create a process or program from the work that you already do. Chances are you already have a loose process that you work through, even if you haven’t really defined it fully yet. This is the time to do so. Potential clients will respond well to “5 Steps to…”, or “30 Days to…”

Get clear on the end result of your program. Since you are no longer offering therapy, you want your potential client to immediately understand what you are offering so they can determine whether or not it’s the right choice for them.

Accept that this will be much harder to “sell” than therapy. Therapists often suffer from “the grass is greener” syndrome when they begin to explore explore selling products and services online. Let me assure you right now that is NOT the case. Notice I didn’t say it was impossible, or that you shouldn’t do it. It is possible, and many of you in private practice SHOULD be doing it. It’s just that it take a much more sophisticated marketing strategy because the trust gap with potential clients is so much higher. So if you haven’t already defined your Unique Selling Proposition, your ideal client, and the benefits of working with you, you’ve got some work left to do.

When you’ve reached the limit of the number of clients you are willing to see a week, offering products and services online is a great way to expand your practice, leverage your expertise, share your gifts with the world, and multiply your profits. Take the time to plan it out thoroughly beforehand, and keep these five tips in mind.

If you’re considering making the move to offering products and services online, why not schedule a complimentary 30-minute Strategy Session with me? I can help you figure out if you’re ready, and help determine the best plan for you to launch. Click here to find a time. You’ll be amazed at the clarity and direction you’ll get in just 30 minutes.

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